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Every year we grow our collection with works that expand and deepen the stories we tell and the perspectives we share—across geographies, periods and cultures. Enjoy a few highlights of this past year’s additions.
Responding to disproportionate racial and gender representation within Chicago’s modern and contemporary art scene in the 20th century, women seized the gap by forging their own spaces throughout the city. Learn about the history of placemaking in Chicago art spaces through selections from the Research Center’s Libraries and Archives.
Best known as the photographer of the “Black is Beautiful” movement, Brathwaite created images that were inspired by jazz and popular music of the 1960s and 1970s.
Part of this photograph’s power lies in the deterioration that seems to threaten it, as if the image were going to disappear soon.
The photographer feels “a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home,” when looking at the sea, a feeling that resonates with others who have crossed their waters.
Since its invention in the 19th century, photography has both engaged with and changed the world.
A roster of prominent artists, curators, and scholars offers a new approach to our understanding of photography and media
The first in-depth treatment in fifteen years, this handsome and important book examines Morell’s career to the present day, including his earlier works in black-and-white and never before published color photographs from the past decade.
This publication celebrates, and expands upon, the 2018 exhibition Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950–1980, which presented the work of practitioners across the city who vividly captured the spirit of their communities.
This teaching packet includes an essay, discussion questions, activity ideas, a glossary, and images of three photographs from Dawoud Bey’s first significant body of work.
Barbara Kruger is known for works that provocatively integrate photographs and text. Her art reveals and challenges the ways in which images used in the commercial media often perpetuate stereotypes, objectify women, and encourage conformity.
Explore The Return of Odysseus (Homage to Pinturicchio and Benin) by artist Romare Bearden. The collage retells the epic tale of The Odyssey, celebrating the connections between The Odyssey’s characters and African-American history and culture. Engage in slow looking, learn more about the artist, and use stories of your own life to make art.
Learn about Black culture on Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s through Mikki Ferrill’s photographic project, The Garage (1970–80).
